I recently replaced all of my running rigging, including changing over from rope/wire halyards to all rope. I did not inspect the sheave for the main halyard as I did not want to go up there on one ancient halyard. As the other sheaves looked OK, I rolled the dice and hoped the main halyard's sheave would be OK.
I think I lost that gamble.
On the first hoist with a new 5/16" Warpspeed halyard, the sail was binding when the head on the main was approximately even with the spreaders. Up to that point, it ran fine. With pressure, it would unbind, however no amount of normal effort would hoist the sail higher.
Whatever was binding the halyard completely chewed the cover off of the new Warpspeed in two spots. Is a sheave capable of that?The wear spots on the halyard are about where it would have contacted the sheave when it jammed.
Is there anything else that would cause that issue?
If it's most likely the sheave, is that something that can be replaced without unstepping the rig, or are they commonly held in with more than just a pin?
